Automatic lawn trimmer and automatic lawn trimming method

ABSTRACT

An automatic lawn trimmer includes a case, a battery pack, a controller, a driving device and a trampling device. The battery pack is disposed in the case. The battery pack is configured to supply electrical power to the driving device. The controller is connected with the driving device for controlling the driving device. The driving device is configured to drive the automatic lawn trimmer to move autonomously on the lawn. The grass on the lawn is trampled by the trampling device as the automatic lawn trimmer moves on the lawn. Through regular trampling the lawn, the grass on the lawn is kept at a certain height to realize the beauty and ornamentality of the lawn. The automatic lawn trimmer overcomes the shortcomings of large noise, the difficulty of cleaning up the grass, and the hard work by the existing lawn trimmers.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

The present application is based on and claims the priority of Chinesepatent application No. 201710901497.8, filed on Sep. 28, 2017. Theentire disclosure of the above-identified application is incorporatedherein by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present application relates to tools for trimming lawn, andparticularly to an automatic lawn trimmer and an automatic lawn trimmingmethod.

BACKGROUND ART

In lawn trimming, people often use lawn trimmers. They need to cut offthe grass according to the required length, to improve the beauty andornamental quality of the lawn. However, the existing lawn trimmers havesome inherent shortcomings because of its characteristics, such as largenoise, difficult to clean up the cut grass, involving hard work.

For this problem, the inventor found by accident that, after beingtrampled by the car tyres in short time over a long term, the grass onthe lawn not only does not die, but keeps in the range of suitableornamental length. This discovery provides a way of thinking for thedesign of the technical solution of the present application.

Technical Solution

In view of the above, it is necessary to provide an automatic lawntrimmer and an automatic lawn trimming method, to overcome theshortcomings of large noise, difficult to clean up the cut grass, andinvolving hard work by the existing lawn trimmers.

An embodiment of the present application provides an automatic lawntrimmer, which includes a case, a battery pack, a controller, a drivingdevice and a trampling device. The battery pack is disposed in the case.The battery pack is configured to supply electrical power to the drivingdevice. The controller is connected with the driving device forcontrolling the driving device. The driving device is configured todrive the automatic lawn trimmer to move autonomously on the lawn. Thegrass on the lawn is trampled by the trampling device as the automaticlawn trimmer moves on the lawn.

An embodiment of the present application further provides an automaticlawn trimming method, which includes:

providing the above automatic lawn trimmer;

using a height sensor provided on the automatic lawn trimmer to detect aheight of the grass on the lawn;

wherein when the height of the grass on the lawn detected by the heightsensor is greater than a preset height, the height sensor sending asignal to the controller, the controller controlling the automatic lawntrimmer to activate its automatic trimming function according to thesignal, the driving device driving the automatic lawn trimmer to moveautonomously on the lawn, the grass on the lawn being trampled by thetrampling device as the automatic lawn trimmer moves on the lawn.

Advantageous Effects

According to the automatic lawn trimmer and the automatic lawn trimmingmethod provided by the embodiment of the present application, the grasson the lawn is kept at a certain height to realize the beauty andornamentality of the lawn by regular trampling, to overcome theshortcomings of large noise, difficult to clean up the cut grass, andinvolving hard work by the existing lawn trimmers.

DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a front schematic view of an automatic lawn trimmer accordingto an embodiment of the present application.

FIG. 2 is a side schematic view of the automatic lawn trimmer of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a view showing the automatic lawn trimmer of FIG. 2 byremoving a portion of the side plate.

FIG. 4 is a top schematic view of the automatic lawn trimmer of FIG. 2.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of the automatic lawn trimmer of theembodiment of the present application.

FIG. 6 is a schematic view showing the automatic lawn trimmer isperforming a trampling operation on the lawn.

FIG. 7 is an isometric view of an automatic lawn trimmer according toanother embodiment of the present application.

FIGS. 8-9 are isometric views of automatic lawn trimmers according tofurther embodiments of the present application.

MODE FOR INVENTION

In order to make the purposes, characteristics, and advantages of thepresent application more apparently, embodiments of the presentapplication will now be described in more detail with reference to theaccompanying drawings.

Referring from FIG. 1 to FIG. 5, an automatic lawn trimmer 100 isprovided in an embodiment of the present application. The automatic lawntrimmer 100 includes a case 101, a battery pack 102, a controller 103, adriving device 130 and a trampling device 140.

The battery pack 102 is disposed in the case 101. The quantity of thebattery pack 102 may be one or multiple. The battery pack 102 isconnected with the driving device 130 and supplies electric power to thedriving device 130. The controller 103 is connected with the drivingdevice 130 for controlling the driving device 130. The driving device130 is configured to drive the automatic lawn trimmer 100 to moveautonomously on the lawn. The grass on the lawn is trampled by thetrampling device 140 as the automatic lawn trimmer 100 moves on thelawn.

In the embodiment, the driving device 130 includes a driving motor 131and a driving wheel 132. The controller 103 is connected with thedriving motor 131. The driving motor 131 is connected with the drivingwheel 132. The driving motor 131 is configured to drive the drivingwheel 132 to rotate. The trampling device 140 is a driven tramplingwheel 141. The driven trampling wheel 141 rolls on the lawn under thedriving of the driving wheel 132. As the driving wheel 132 drives theautomatic lawn trimmer 100 to move on the lawn, the driven tramplingwheel 141 rolls under the driving of the driving wheel 132, to tramplethe grass on the lawn.

In the embodiment, the driving wheel 132 is provided as the rear wheel,and the driven trampling wheel 141 is provided as the front wheel. Thequantity of the driving wheel 132 is two, and each driving wheel 132 isdriven correspondingly by a driving motor 131. The driving wheel 132also acts as the steering wheel. The driving wheel 132 can be inflatablewheel, solid wheel, or crawler wheel.

As the automatic lawn trimmer 100 moves on the lawn, the driving motors131 at two sides can rotate in the same direction and at the same speed.When the automatic lawn trimmer 100 needs to make a turn, it can be doneby turning in place or turning around. When making a turn by turning inplace, the driving motor 131 at one side and the driving motor 131 atthe other side are rotated at the same speed, but in differentdirection. When making a turn by turning around, the driving motor 131at one side stops rotation or is rotated at low speed, but the drivingmotor 131 at the other side is rotated at high speed.

In the embodiment, the driven trampling wheel 141 is detachable. Thatis, the driven trampling wheel 141 is detachably mounted to the case101, such that the user can choose the trampling wheel of differentweight or different type according to the grass type of the lawn.

In the embodiment, the driven trampling wheel 141 is mounted to a shaft142. The front of the case 101 is fixed with two brackets 143. Two endsof the shaft 142 are rotatably mounted to the two brackets 143,respectively, so that the shaft 142 and the driven trampling wheel 141together can rotate relative to the two brackets 143.

In the embodiment, the automatic lawn trimmer 100 further includes aheight sensor 109 for detecting the height of the grass on the lawn. Forexample, the height sensor 109 can be provided at the front of the case101. The height sensor 109 is connected with the controller 103. Aheight threshold value for the grass on the lawn can be set, forexample, 10 cm, and the height threshold value is preset in thecontroller 103. The height sensor 109 sends its detecting result to thecontroller 103. When the height of the grass on the lawn detected by theheight sensor 109 is greater than the height threshold value, thecontroller 103 controls the automatic lawn trimmer 100 to activate itsautomatic trimming function. Therefore, the automatic lawn trimmer 100can activate its trimming function automatically according to thedetected height of the grass on the lawn. Through regular trampling thelawn, the grass on the lawn is kept at a certain height to realize thebeauty and ornamentality of the lawn, to overcome the shortcomings oflarge noise, difficult to clean up the cut grass, and involving hardwork by the existing lawn trimmers. That is, cutting grass in theexisting lawn trimmers is substituted by trampling grass in the presentapplication.

The frequency of trimming in spring and summer is higher, and thefrequency of trimming in autumn and winter is low. For example, thefrequency of trimming in spring and summer is 4 times per month, and thefrequency of trimming in autumn and winter is 2 times per month. Sincethe trampling lasts for a period of time, the trimming each time canlast 2-3 days and the grass is trampled 2 times each day.

In the embodiment, the automatic lawn trimmer 100 further includes acamera 111. For example, the camera 111 is provided at the front of thecase 101. The camera 111 can be a 360° panoramic camera. Therefore, a360° camera system can be constructed using the panoramic camera 111. Byscanning a surrounding environment of the lawn, a 2D map can be builtfor autonomous positioning, i.e., using the VSLAM technology (visualsimultaneous localization and mapping), to realize autonomouspositioning and map building using the visual system. The 2D map isstored in the controller 103, and the grass on the whole lawn istrampled according to the 2D map. The route during trampling the grasscan be linear reciprocating motions.

In the embodiment, the automatic lawn trimmer 100 further includes aranging sensor 112. The ranging sensor 112 is connected with thecontroller 103. The ranging sensor 112 is configured to detect aninformation of obstacles in a surrounding environment of the case 101 asthe automatic lawn trimmer 100 moves on the lawn. According to thedetecting result by the ranging sensor 112, the controller 103 controlsthe automatic lawn trimmer 100 to move on the lawn by keeping away fromthe obstacles. The ranging sensor 112 may be multiple, and the multipleranging sensors 112 are distributed over the outer surface of the case101. Specifically, the ranging sensor 112 can be selected from infraredranging sensor, ultrasonic ranging sensor, laser ranging sensor, andradar ranging sensor.

In the embodiment, the automatic lawn trimmer 100 further includes apositioning device 113, a wireless communication module 114 and analarming device 115. The positioning device 113 is configured to obtaina positioning information of the automatic lawn trimmer 100. Thepositioning device 113 can be global positioning system (GPS) or Beidounavigation positioning system. The case 101 can be positioned in realtime through the positioning device 113. When the current position ofthe automatic lawn trimmer 100 obtained by the positioning device 113 isbeyond the preset range, the controller 103 controls the alarm device115 for alarm, and the wireless communication module 114 sends thecurrent position information of the automatic lawn trimmer 100 and theimage information captured by the camera 111 to an electronic device200, such that the user can understand the current position of theautomatic lawn trimmer 100, and it is easy to track after the automaticlawn trimmer 100 is stolen. The electronic device 200 may be smartphones, smart watches, or tablet computers, and it can also be a serverset up on a monitoring platform.

When the automatic lawn trimmer 100 is deliberately destroyed by aperson in outdoor, the controller 103 will control the alarming device115 for alarm, and the wireless communication module 114 sends the imageinformation captured by the camera 111 to the user's electronic device200, so that it is easy to find the destroyer.

In addition, by sending the image information captured by the camera 111to the user's electronic device 200 via the wireless communicationmodule 114, it is also convenient for the user to understand theprogress of trampling operation of the automatic lawn trimmer 100.

In the embodiment, there is provided with a vacuum cleaning device 116under the case 101 of the automatic lawn trimmer 100, for cleaning upthe litter on the lawn, such as small stones or small rubbish.

In the embodiment, the automatic lawn trimmer 100 further includes asolar panel 117. The solar panel 117 is provided on the outer surface(e.g., side surface and top surface) of the case 101. The solar panel117 is electrically connected with the battery pack 102. The batterypack 102 can be charged by the solar panel 117. Because the usefrequency of the automatic lawn trimmer 100 is not high, solar energycan be collected and stored to drive the automatic lawn trimmer 100.

Referring to FIG. 5 and FIG. 6, the user can set an electronic fence 301on the lawn which is required to be trampled. The automatic lawn trimmer100 further includes an inductance detecting sensor 121. The inductancedetecting sensor 121 is connected with the controller 103. Theinductance detecting sensor 121 can be provided at two sides of the case101 (see FIG. 2). The inductance detecting sensor 121 can detect theelectronic fence 301 and recognize it as the boundary for the automaticlawn trimmer 100 during trampling operation. According to the detectingresult of the inductance detecting sensor 121, the controller 103controls the automatic lawn trimmer 100 to perform the tramplingoperation in the area defined by the electronic fence 301.

In the embodiment, the case 101 is provided with a charging port 122which is electrically connected with the battery pack 102. A chargingstation 302 is provided on the electronic fence 301 for charging theautomatic lawn trimmer 100. When the automatic lawn trimmer 100encounters a shortage of electricity or has finished the trampling task,the controller 103 of the automatic lawn trimmer 100 detects and tracksthe electronic fence 301 using the inductance detecting sensor 121, suchthat the automatic lawn trimmer 100 returns automatically to thecharging station 302 for being charged.

Referring to FIG. 7, in the automatic lawn trimmer 100 provided byanother embodiment of the present application, the driving device 130includes a driving motor 131 and a crawler wheel 133. The controller 103is connected with the driving motor 131. The driving motor 131 isconnected with the crawler wheel 133. The driving motor 131 isconfigured to drive the crawler wheel 133 to rotate. The tramplingdevice 140 is a crawler 145 mounted on the crawler wheel 133. In theembodiment, the automatic lawn trimmer 100 moves using crawler. Thelarge grounding area of the crawler wheel 133 can ensure the area oftrampling grass, and it can smoothly pass all kinds of complex roadconditions and obstacles. For other structures and working principles ofthis embodiment, reference can be made to the above first example, andthey are omitted here for clarity.

Referring to FIGS. 8-9, in the automatic lawn trimmer 100 provided byfurther embodiments of the present application, the driving device 130includes at least two walking legs 135. The driving device 130 isconfigured to drive the at least two walking legs 135 to movealternately. The trampling device 140 are pressing plates 146 mounted onthe at least two walking legs 135. FIG. 8 illustrates two walking legs135, while FIG. 9 illustrates four walking legs 135, but it is notlimited thereto. The quantity of the walking legs 135 can be two, three,four, or even more. In order to realize the alternate movement of themultiple walking legs 135, different driving devices can be used. Forexample, the driving device 130 may further include a stepping drivingmotor and a connecting rod mechanism. By using the stepping motor andthe connecting rod mechanism to control the walking legs 135, thewalking legs 135 can move up and down, and can move ahead alternately.In the embodiment, the automatic lawn trimmer 100 has the appearance ofa humanoid robot, but it is not limited. When the driving device 130drives the walking legs 135 of the automatic lawn trimmer 100 to movealternately on the lawn, the pressing plates 146 at the bottom of thewalking legs 135 trample the grass on the lawn. The large grounding areaof the pressing plates 146 can ensure the area of trampling grass andpass all kinds of complex road conditions and obstacles. For otherstructures and working principles of this embodiment, reference can bemade to the above first example, and they are omitted here for clarity.

Further, the embodiment of the present application provides an automaticlawn trimming method, which includes:

providing the above automatic lawn trimmer 100;

using a height sensor 109 provided on the automatic lawn trimmer 100 todetect a height of the grass on the lawn;

when the height of the grass on the lawn detected by the height sensor109 is greater than a preset height, the height sensor 109 sending asignal to the controller 103, the controller 103 controlling theautomatic lawn trimmer 100 to activate its automatic trimming functionaccording to the signal, the driving device 130 driving the automaticlawn trimmer 100 to move autonomously on the lawn, the grass on the lawnbeing trampled by the trampling device 140 as the automatic lawn trimmer100 moves on the lawn, thereby keeping the grass on the lawn at acertain height after regular trampling and realizing the beauty andornamentality of the lawn, to overcome the shortcomings of large noise,difficult to clean up the cut grass, and involving hard work by theexisting lawn trimmers.

The above are embodiments of the present application only, and shouldnot be deemed as limitations to the present application. Although thepresent application has been disclosed in embodiments as above, it isnot intended to limit the present application. It should be noted thatvariations and improvements will become apparent to those skilled in theart to which the present application pertains. Therefore, the scope ofthe present application is defined by the appended claims.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

According to the automatic lawn trimmer and the automatic lawn trimmingmethod provided by the embodiment of the present application, the grasson the lawn is kept at a certain height to realize the beauty andornamentality of the lawn by regular trampling, to overcome theshortcomings of large noise, difficult to clean up the cut grass, andinvolving hard work by the existing lawn trimmers.

1. An automatic lawn trimmer, comprising a case, a battery pack, acontroller, a driving device and a trampling device, wherein the batterypack is disposed in the case, the battery pack is configured to supplyelectrical power to the driving device, the controller is connected withthe driving device for controlling the driving device, the drivingdevice is configured to drive the automatic lawn trimmer to moveautonomously on the lawn, the grass on the lawn is trampled by thetrampling device as the automatic lawn trimmer moves on the lawn.
 2. Theautomatic lawn trimmer of claim 1, wherein the driving device comprisesa driving motor and a driving wheel, the controller is connected withthe driving motor, the driving motor is connected with the drivingwheel, the driving motor is configured to drive the driving wheel torotate, the trampling device is a driven trampling wheel, the driventrampling wheel rolls on the lawn under the driving of the drivingwheel.
 3. The automatic lawn trimmer of claim 2, wherein the drivingwheel is provided as the rear wheel, the driven trampling wheel isprovided as the front wheel.
 4. The automatic lawn trimmer of claim 2,wherein the quantity of the driving wheel is two, each driving wheel isdriven by a driving motor.
 5. The automatic lawn trimmer of claim 2,wherein the driven trampling wheel is detachably mounted to the case. 6.The automatic lawn trimmer of claim 2, wherein the driven tramplingwheel is mounted to a shaft, a front of the case is fixed with twobrackets, two ends of the shaft are rotatably mounted to the twobrackets, respectively.
 7. The automatic lawn trimmer of claim 1,wherein the driving device comprises a driving motor and a crawlerwheel, the controller is connected with the driving motor, the drivingmotor is connected with the crawler wheel, the driving motor isconfigured to drive the crawler wheel to rotate, the trampling device isa crawler mounted on the crawler wheel.
 8. The automatic lawn trimmer ofclaim 1, wherein the driving device comprises at least two walking legs,the driving device is configured to drive the at least two walking legsto move alternately on the lawn, the trampling device are pressingplates mounted on the at least two walking legs.
 9. The automatic lawntrimmer of claim 1, wherein the automatic lawn trimmer further comprisesa height sensor for detecting a height of the grass on the lawn, theheight sensor is connected with the controller, a height threshold valueis preset in the controller, when the height of the grass on the lawndetected by the height sensor is greater than the height thresholdvalue, the controller controls the automatic lawn trimmer to activateits automatic trimming function.
 10. The automatic lawn trimmer of claim1, wherein the automatic lawn trimmer further comprises a camera, thecamera is configured to scan a surrounding environment of the lawn tobuild a 2D map for autonomous positioning, the automatic lawn trimmertramples the grass on the whole lawn according to the 2D map.
 11. Theautomatic lawn trimmer of claim 10, wherein the camera is a 360°panoramic camera, and a 360° camera system is constructed by thepanoramic camera.
 12. The automatic lawn trimmer of claim 1, wherein theautomatic lawn trimmer further comprises a ranging sensor, the rangingsensor is connected with the controller, the ranging sensor isconfigured to detect an information of obstacles in a surroundingenvironment of the case, the controller controls the automatic lawntrimmer to move on the lawn by keeping away from the obstacles accordingto the detecting result by the ranging sensor.
 13. The automatic lawntrimmer of claim 12, wherein the ranging sensor are multiple, themultiple ranging sensors are distributed over an outer surface of thecase.
 14. The automatic lawn trimmer of claim 1, wherein the automaticlawn trimmer further comprises a positioning device and a wirelesscommunication module, the positioning device is configured to obtain apositioning information of the automatic lawn trimmer, the wirelesscommunication module is configured to send the positioning informationof the automatic lawn trimmer and an image information captured by thecamera to an electronic device.
 15. The automatic lawn trimmer of claim1, wherein there is provided with a vacuum cleaning device under thecase, for cleaning up the litter on the lawn.
 16. The automatic lawntrimmer of claim 1, wherein the automatic lawn trimmer further comprisesa solar panel, the solar panel is provided on an outer surface of thecase, the solar panel is electrically connected with the battery pack,the solar panel is configured to charge the battery pack.
 17. Theautomatic lawn trimmer of claim 1, wherein the automatic lawn trimmerfurther comprises an inductance detecting sensor, the inductancedetecting sensor is connected with the controller, the inductancedetecting sensor is configured to detect an electronic fence which isprovided on the lawn, the controller controls the automatic lawn trimmerto perform a trampling operation in the area defined by the electronicfence according the detecting result of the inductance detecting sensor.18. The automatic lawn trimmer of claim 17, wherein the inductancedetecting sensor is provided at two sides of the case.
 19. The automaticlawn trimmer of claim 17, wherein the case is provided with a chargingport electrically connected with the battery pack, and a chargingstation is provided on the electronic fence for charging the automaticlawn trimmer.
 20. An automatic lawn trimming method, comprising:providing an automatic lawn trimmer of claim 1; using a height sensorprovided on the automatic lawn trimmer to detect a height of the grasson the lawn; wherein when the height of the grass on the lawn detectedby the height sensor is greater than a preset height, the height sensorsending a signal to the controller, the controller controlling theautomatic lawn trimmer to activate its automatic trimming functionaccording to the signal, the driving device driving the automatic lawntrimmer to move autonomously on the lawn, the grass on the lawn beingtrampled by the trampling device as the automatic lawn trimmer moves onthe lawn.